Marvel Infinite 2015 Wave 2 Review

Marvel Infinite 2015 Wave 2
We are about 1/4 through 2015, and as far as I know 2/3 of the way through Marvel Infinite releases for the year! Tonight, it gives me incredible joy and honor, to bring you a full review of Marvel Infinite 2015 Wave 2, in hand, pretty much before anyone else except eBay!

I couldn’t have done this alone of course. I have a great friend who takes exceptional care of me. He’s mine, you can’t have him, but you can find him on eBay if you look quick enough, and he’s got a hook up in one of the shadiest parts of the country, New York! I am honored and humbled that he continues to share this hook up with me.

Thunderstrike’s Mace (Thunderstrike), has a nice fine point of detail on the top “T”

Excellent facial detail, the beard tastes like beard berries…no…wait. That’s not a thing.

Jacket is removable!

The Bad

The “T” on top of Thunderstrike is brown. I couldn’t find a picture online where it was brown in the comics, it’s the same color as the mace itself…which is not brown.

No torso articulation.

No wrist articulation.

At the end of the wrists are kind of feminine hands. This is Thunderstrike…he should have big…strong…hands.

Vulture

The Good

Vulture’s face looks great, very old man scowly.

I think no torso articulation actually helps out Vulture. The less he moves the better for keeping his challenging wings in. However it also makes the figure look very clean and super comic accurate!

The paint application is nice and clean.

The wings, while overall, very frustrating as noted in “the bad”, look incredible. The lines are deep and rich giving them a very 3d feel.

The Bad

Oh my god screw these freakin wings!! What a pain to get to stay in!

Limited articulation, as with all of the other figures in this wave is a knock here. Especially with Vulture’s hands. Because you have to work to find a solid arm position to wing position zone, limiting Vulture with no wrist articulation is a big downfall. Trying to get him into a believable position is kind of rough.

Doc Ock

The Good

2015 is clearly the year for Spider-Man villains in the Marvel Infinite line, Sand Man (2 of em!) Vulture and now Doc Ock!

Once you figure out which tentacle goes in which hole, things fit together pretty smoothly.

While the tentacles are not bendable like the Spider-Man line release Doc Ock exhibited, they look much better. That other one had bendy tentacles right?

The Bad

Figuring out which tentacle went to which hole wasn’t obvious, but there did seem to be a right one for right hole…so Hasbro, mark that stuff clearly!

The only one in this wave, and I tend to reserve bad stuff for the really bad. The face…this looks like a rough hack job. The glasses are ok, but the mouth looks like someone slathered toothpaste in a streak, and there is otherwise very little detail. This would have been a pretty awesome Doc Ock otherwise.

And again…articulation, just not a lot here. Certainly not torso, but I guess they needed to limit it based on how the arms attach.

Shanna

The Good

The facial detail here is really very nice, one of the better female characters I’ve seen in a little bit. Well…most of it.

Unlike many recent female releases, the mold is solid, no wonky knees!

Shanna has a knife. Her knife has a holster. That’s one of my favorite things.

The Bad

Something I agreed to with myself, was that to continue collecting this line, I was fine if articulation sucked. Because for me, it’s about how the figure looks, and how well the character is captured in plastic. Ball. Dropped. Here. Only half of Shanna’s face is painted. There is even a part of her left eye exposed where her hair doesn’t reach and it’s just not painted. I’m really upset about this. We are talking a little bit of black, white and blue paint the size of a pin head….and it’s just not there. Bad form…

Armored Daredevil

The Good

Daredevil is my favorite character in this wave. The paint is so sharp here, so clean, so glossy.

For good and bad reasons, this figure reminds me of the old school Secret Wars Daredevil. Remember how sharp the red was?

Good facial detail, very clean lines.

I like the molded on billy club on one hand and the loose one for the other, though it’d be nice if both were loose and clippable to the wrist.

Molded armor all looks great.

The Bad

The bad part of the Secret Wars Daredevil was that he had a whopping 4 points of articulation. Armored Daredevil does a little bit better, but not by much.

The rest

I have waved the flag of 3.75 inch Marvel action figures almost since the beginning of the Marvel Universe Toy Line. While MUReview hasn’t been around for quite that long, my wallet has drained for almost exactly that long. I was so impassioned by the line, I enjoyed every figure, every wave. I feel like there was always so much good in the line, even amongst the negative things there were points that shined through and always something to love…but man, I’m really pissed off at the phone in job on Shanna’s face. I don’t even really like Shanna! One freaking eyeball. Many will decry it as a sign and a drop off in quality and I don’t want to fall into that. This wave does have a lot of bright spots. Daredevil, Thunderstrike, and Vulture all look very good and complaints there are very minimal. But come on man..one eye??

Man, I am really bummed about that one freakin’ eye. Vulture’s wings are incredibly frustrating, but Thunderstrike, and Daredevil look fantastic. Vulture does too. Should you get this wave? Yeah, I mean, 3 brand new characters, even with their downsides, and 2 different versions of existing that are both very well executed visually. Plus, you are that much closer to the Sinister Six….let’s go Chameleon!